Bakersfield veterans heading to Houston to help with recovery efforts

Chad Garcia is a local veteran who didn't hesitate to volunteer.

"I was thinking about it for the past few days because a fellow soldier that I served with lives in the Houston area and his house has a good 2-3 feet of flood damage," said Garcia.

The impacts of hurricane Harvey have been devastating.

Thousands have been rescued from their homes, and more than 30-thousand expected to be sheltered.

These veterans said they're prepared to help in all possible ways.

"We've had ton of donations so we have all kinds of emergency search and rescue supplies we have food, water, personal hygiene... I mean we are ready to go," said Garcia. "This isn't the first time we've done something like this so we are pretty locked and loaded and ready to do this."

Chad Garcia had previous experience while helping the victims of hurricane Katrina.

The local veterans have a GO FUND ME PAGE set up called Bakersfield Veterans for Houston that they set up Tuesday morning to help raise money for travel costs.

"We set it at 2,000 I think we should be there by the morning time but we are going to be there for seven days and any donation would be very much appreciated by all of us," said Garcia.

Garcia wants locals to know that they do not feel comfortable asking for last minute assistance; however their desire is to help fellow Americans.

"We just want to get out there and do what honestly we are good at and that is helping our fellow Americans and rising to the cause," Garcia said.